Finding good help is hard, and in the healthcare industry, it just might be harder. As a healthcare provider, you are probably only one employee away from a massive lawsuit that
bankrupts and cripples your business. Healthcare professional indemnity insurance can only go so far to protect your company
from negligence, but what if it was possible to reduce the possibility of occurrence altogether?

Careful and selective recruitment of healthcare workers and professionals is one way to reduce the possibility of facing a lawsuit due to unprofessional carriage of responsibilities.

Here are five things you need to look out for when hiring.

  1. Empathy: Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, and it is a fundamental trait every healthcare worker must possess. Your employees must be able to empathize with the pain and struggle of your patients to be able to treat them as human beings and not a set of symptoms and diagnoses that need treatment.
  2. Communication: Ensure to hire employees who understand the importance of effective communication and can effectively communicate with patients in a language they understand. They must be able to effectively utilize the four necessary language
    skills, mainly listening and speaking, which are essential when dealing with patients. Many negligence lawsuits could have been avoided by merely communicating correctly.
  3. Ability to multitask: The healthcare industry is very fast-paced and has little to no room for error. Thus it is essential to hire employees who can think quickly on their feet and work promptly across many different patients. They must be able to perform
    several tasks in a short time and with zero amount of mistakes.
  4. Passion: Many people are good at what they do, but not many that are passionate. Passion will always trump skill because with passion an individual can do whatever it takes to achieve a set goal. When recruiting as a healthcare provider, make sure to
    hire individuals who are passionate about their job. They will treat it with a lot more respect and dedication than those who do it just because of the paycheck.
  5. Diversity: In the current economic and social climate we live in, diversity hiring is not new. However, as a healthcare provider, using diversity as a recruitment criterion is not only expected but prudent. Diversity creates a mix of individuals with varying
    backgrounds and experiences, which can prove instrumental when dealing with varied patients from equally diverse backgrounds and experiences. The world is a melting pot of cultures, and societies and your company will inevitably receive patients from different backgrounds. In such instances, having a diverse workforce can only work in your favour.

Conclusion

Finding the perfect fit for a particular position can be a daunting task, but there are general principles that one can follow to help make the decision easier. Alternatively, you can decide to engage a medical recruitment agency to take the pressure off the tedious process of
recruiting and be rest assured that the selected candidate will make a great employee that will be an asset to your team.

As a healthcare provider, what has been the most challenging aspect of recruiting and hiring quality talent for your organization?

At ProStandardUK Limited, we find, train, and prepare healthcare professionals with high standard qualifications and experience in their fields for permanent and locum vacancies. We remove the hassles of hiring and provide healthcare providers with the best candidates for the job.